Red State Democrats Tread Lightly On Hobby Lobby Ruling

When it comes to the Supreme Court's Hobby Lobby ruling, Georgia Democratic Senate candidate Michelle Nunn must navigate between her state's conservative electorate and her national party.

David Goldman
/ AP

Originally published on July 4, 2014 10:28 am

For the typical Democrat running in 2014, frequent condemnation of the Supreme Court's recent Hobby Lobby decision is a no-brainer as a rallying cry to raise money and energize voters — especially women.

Sen. Kay Hagan in North Carolina was one Senate Democratic candidate from a state with a red streak who mentioned the Hobby Lobby decision on her campaign website, posting a news release. Her campaign used the news of the ruling as a way to contrast her with Republican challenger Thom Tillis, who approved of the Supreme Court ruling and also supported a "personhood" constitutional amendment that would grant legal protection to a fertilized human egg.

"Kay has always stood up for a woman's access to contraceptive care. This is not a new position for her," says Sadie Weiner, Hagan's communications director.

(Requests for comment were made to other Democratic Senate candidates who hadn't responded by the time this was written. We will update with any responses that roll in.)

Hagan has it somewhat easier, of course, than some of the other red state Democratic Senate candidates. While President Obama lost North Carolina in 2012, he won the state in 2008. The state has a Republican governor and a GOP-controlled Legislature, but Democrats have a voter registration edge over Republicans.

The muted response from red state Democrats contrasts with the reaction from New Hampshire Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, who has kept up a steady stream of tweets criticizing the decision since the high court ruling.

Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin of Illinois, whose blue state seat is considered relatively safe, highlights on his website a news report that he will introduce legislation requiring companies that use the Hobby Lobby decision to not pay for their employees' contraceptive coverage to disclose that to workers and applicants.

While the decision inflamed the Democratic base in general — and Democratic women in particular — Democratic political consultant Neil Oxman says the red state Democrats are in "a bit of a conundrum."

"If you're any of those [Senate candidate] women and you disagree with the decision, you're not going to do it on radio; you're not going to do it on TV," Oxman tells It's All Politics. "You're going to do it through a lot of direct mail. You're going to do it in ways where you're going to target households."

The candidates would be wise to wait until late in the campaign to address the issue, he says, in order to keep any backlash before Election Day to a minimum.

And while campaigns would likely use targeted social media to amplify their positions, direct mail would be the preferred route since that allows a campaign to be "a little more incendiary and scary," Oxman says.